The Rockaway Wave
Originally published April 14, 2023
It was November of 2022 when Mets Director of Player Development Kevin Howard called Chris Newell to inform him he would be the next manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones. That was the moment Newell, who at the time was at the Mets’ academy in the Dominican Republic, said his life changed.
“I’m very lucky and honored,” Newell said. “This is a big deal. I’m just happy to have a uniform on and make a difference in these guys’ lives and careers. To me, I don’t need a title to help these guys, but the title is certainly a rewarding opportunity for me.”
Newell was supposed to manage the Kingsport Mets — then the Mets’ rookie ball affiliate — in 2020, but the season was canceled due to COVID-19. The Mets kept him in the organization, making him the St. Lucie rehab coach in 2021 and the Brooklyn bench coach in 2022, before giving him the managerial opportunity again in 2023.
This isn’t the first time he’s managed though, just the first time in affiliated baseball. From 2016-19, Newell was the manager of the Birmingham-Bloomfield Beavers, an independent baseball team playing in the United Shore Professional Baseball League in Michigan.
“It was fantastic,” Newell said. “Independent baseball is a different animal. The thing that I enjoyed most about it obviously is the players, and making those relationships. Being the manager in independent ball, I was my own GM, I was my own scout, I was my own hitting coach. … I was the one making all the decisions.”
Newell and the Beavers won two league championships while he was the manager, back-to-back in 2017 and 2018.
Working with the players, as Newell said with independent baseball, is the most important thing. Winning is certainly a goal, they want to win as many games as possible, but ultimately, Newell hopes that none of the players starting the year with him will finish it with him as well.
Where would they be? Double-A, maybe even Triple-A. A job successfully done for this coaching staff is getting these players promoted.
Two of the players Newell is tasked with managing to open the season are top picks from the most recent MLB draft — Kevin Parada and Blade Tidwell.
Parada, a catcher out of Georgia Tech, was the No. 11 pick in the 2022 draft. He’s had a strong start to the 2023 season, hitting posting an on-base percentage over .400 through his first 5
games. He already hit his first home run of the season, a towering shot that had the left fielder just staring up at the sky. His strikeout-to-walk ratio continues to be exciting, and while his defense certainly needs some improvement, he’s playable behind the dish.
Tidwell is a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher out of Tennessee, the former Vol is the top- ranked pitching prospect in the Mets’ system. His first start of the season was a mixed bag. Four earned runs over 4.1 innings doesn’t look outstanding, but the reality is he pitched better than the line suggests.
Over the first three innings Tidwell was fantastic, striking out five and only allowing one hit and one walk. In the fourth, he got touched up a bit, giving up a double and a home run to consecutive batters, but ultimately getting through the inning with just those two reaching base and picking up another strikeout. Then in the fifth he surrendered one single and two walks before being pulled, with the only out he recorded coming on a sacrifice bunt to the third batter of the inning. Two of those three base runners would come around to score with a reliever on the mound.
For the two of them this season, Newell said he just wants them to be themselves.
“They helped St. Lucie win a championship last year, there’s a reason why they were drafted where they were,” Newell said. “Two unbelievable young men … those two guys are reliable every single day, I know that they’re gonna bring it. I don’t want to say those are guys we don’t worry about, but those are guys that we trust.”
Parada went 4-for-15 in four playoff games for St. Lucie last season, walking four times and homering once. Tidwell had two outstanding playoff starts, going a combined 9.2 scoreless innings and allowing just nine baserunners while striking out 13.
“They’re professionals, they know how to go about their business every day, and we’re going to let them continue to be them, because them is pretty damn special,” Newell said.
Another top prospect starting the year in Brooklyn is outfielder Alex Ramirez. Still just 20 years old, he’s one of the most exciting prospects in the system due to his five-tool potential.
Even on opening day, two people maybe twice his age were camped outside the player’s entrance and tried to stop him for autographs when he arrived to the park over four hours before game time. A 20-year-old MLB top-100 prospect playing in New York, there are few minor leaguers under a brighter spotlight than him.
“I think he shys away from it a little bit,” Newell said. “And I’m not saying this is the case, but I’m kind of putting myself in his shoes, it can be overwhelming at times a bit for a young kid. But at the end of the day, he knows what he has to do every single day, and baseball is his
priority, getting to the major leagues is his priority, and as long as that carrot is dangling in front of him, he’s going to do everything he can to get that.”
Newell said that the two have a great relationship, and that when Ramirez is swinging the bat well, he’s the best player on the field. He can beat you with his bat, with his defense or with his legs, and Newell said his goal is to get him to bring at least one of those elite traits every single day. He’s off to a bit of a slow start, going just 4-for-23 to open up the year, but he’s still playing a strong center field.
The new manager also shouted out second baseman Kevin Kendall and shortstop Cesar Berbesi, two players who spent the majority of 2022 injured after strong 2021 campaigns. The double play duo have each had strong starts to 2023. Berbesi is hitting .385, getting on base 60% of the time and putting up a one-dot OPS. Kendall has been good in his own right, posting an on-base percentage of .360.
There’s a lot of young talent on this Brooklyn squad. It’s not always going to be pretty, but it should be fun. There’s no better example of this than game No. 1 of the season, opening day.
With two outs in the top of the ninth and the score tied, left fielder Omar De Los Santos dropped a routine fly ball that would have been the third out. One run scored, but De Los Santos recovered quickly and threw a 200-foot strike to nab a second runner at the plate and end the inning.
The Cyclones tied it in the bottom of the ninth, then lost it right away in the top of the 10th. De Los Santos, the same player who cost the Cyclones a run in the 9th, roped a double down the left field line to bring home the free runner. Two batters later he came around to score as the tying run.
After a scoreless top of the 11th, Brooklyn didn’t get a single hit — but let the BlueClaws beat themselves. The Cyclones worked three walks, forcing the free runner in as the game-winning run.
A walk-off walk after a circus-esq final three innings on opening day. It wasn’t pretty, but man was it fun.
Jorge Eckardt Portfolio 